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MATH IA (MDMA (https://www.theguardian.com/society/2006/apr/04/drugsandalc…

- - - - Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a common problem in
        everyday medical practice and a major and costly public health
        problem all over the world
        
        Despite a better understanding and growing efficacy of the existing psychotherapies, PTSD often remains a chronic illness, with high rates of psychiatric and medical comorbidity (Jacobsen et al., 2001; McFarlane, 2010), as well as suicidality
        
        MDMA (±3,4-Methylenedioxymethamphetamine)-assisted psychotherapy is a novel approach to the treatment of PTSD that employs the psychoactive compound MDMA as a catalyst of PTSD-specific psychotherapy itself.
        
        The drug MDMA is a substituted phenylethylamine
        that was first synthesized in 1912 by the pharmaceutical company
        Merck, but was rediscovered in the 1970s by the chemist A
        Shulgin, and it was later introduced to psychotherapy by the psychotherapist L Zeff (Benzenhoefer and Passie, 2006)
        
        The first rigorously-controlled clinical trials of MDMA-assisted psychotherapy in the treatment of chronic PTSD show promising results (Bouso et al., 2008; Mithoefer, 2011)
        
        The benefits of MDMA-assisted psychotherapy appear to be long-lasting
        
        A main characteristic of the MDMA-induced state is a positively-toned cognitiveemotional state, with reduced fear, possibly facilitating the processing of traumatic material and better encoding positive emotional experiences.
        
        Prior to the US scheduling of MDMA as a drug of abuse in 1985, there were reports suggesting it to be effective in psychotherapy
  - - - Panicking users, fearing they are overdosing, drink too much water and provoke hyponaetraemia (water-poisoning)
  - - - Such findings are of concern not only with regard to illicit ecstasy use, but for recent studies proposing therapeutic applications for MDMA, such as in treatment of posttraumatic stress disorder
        
        due to the subjectivity of drug effects and drug users in general, it is hard to establish a general consequence for the frequent use of MDMA
    - - illicit ecstasy use, by itself, does not generally produce lasting residual neurotoxicity
- - - - when consumed, they bind to receptor sites throughout our brains and bodies, and depending on which receptor it is, they have different effects on us
        
        THC = brain
        
        strongly psychoative = euphoric effect
        
        has been used to combat pain, nausea, sleep and stress disorders, appetite loss, etc
        
        high doses = anxiety and paranoia
        
        CBD = body
        
        non-psychoative
        
        counteracts THC
        
        calming effect = used for treating anxiety
        
        used for treating pain, multiple sclerosis, stress, inflammation, sleep loss and epilepsy
        
        lowers blood sugar levels
        
        due to their powerful relief power, cannabinoids have been synthesised and prescribed as medicine
        
        HOWEVER, research shows that herbal marijuana, that is, smoked, has a far wider concentration of such substances
- - - - Nutt incurred the wrath of the government when he claimed in a paper that alcohol and tobacco were more harmful than many illegal drugs, including LSD, ecstasy and cannabis
        
        He criticised Smith's use of the "precautionary principle" to justify her decision to reclassify cannabis and said that by erring on the side of caution politicians "distort" and "devalue" the research evidence.
        
        Nutt acknowledged there was a "relatively small risk" of psychotic illness linked to cannabis use.
    - - however, it can easily go wrong
        
        brain disorders are highly frequent in society
        
        INVESTMENTS in such disorders do not match to the frequency of occurences